We will take a short break from the two-week probation on Oklahoma to step up for Oklahoma City, which has been ruthlessly attacked by an AP writer who has probably never been.As reported on the wonderful Okie-run Lost Ogle blog, Jon Krawczynski went off on Thunder Town. The Minneapolis-based writer makes a few valid points, but cheap shots blur any integrity to his piece (which should have been written back when the Sonics left Seattle). He writes:
Are there knotholes in the fenceposts ringing the Ford Center in Oklahoma City where kids can peek through to see the games?
Is there a pig that brings the game basketball out to the officials for the opening tip? If Kevin Durant tops 40 points in a game does every fan get a coupon for a buffet at the local Pizza Ranch?
It would be funny if it wasn’t so depressing.
Good one Jonnie. I responded directly to him, as Lost Ogle suggests, with this:
You probably have a lot of angry email from Oklahoma Citians -- which is kinda funny. Treasure the moment.Maybe you've been to OKC, maybe not, but it's worth pointing out that it's America's most improved city in the last decade. Reviving itself after the downtown bombing -- remember? the town with all the dead kids. They did so with unprecedented enthusiasm by signing onto a sales tax to build libraries and canal, relocate musems, and actually put water in the river. They also upgraded the pizza buffets and clogged the holes in convention centers so kids, sadly enough, had to get minor-league game results by telegraph.
I wrote about OKC for some backwater town called Chicago. Never heard of it, probably don't even have horses, but I'll take any job.
Here's the link.
Oh, next time you're in Oklahoma City, skip the pizza and go for Vietnamese food on Classen -- better, more authentic than New York's Vietnamese restaurants. Pizza is so '80s.
It's also worth reminding Jonnie that Oklahoma was good enough for the Minnesota Vikings, who practiced in Tulsa's Skelly Stadium in the '70s.
--> Jon Krawczynski and his extended family are banned for three weeks. Or until an apology is made beginning, 'Oklahoma City, I was wrong.'
FBO Admin
Mobile/Semi-Permanent HQ -- Brooklyn, NY
1 comment:
Nice Rob. Very well put. Jon should probably revisit that old, yet seldom used component of writing called "research". OKC used to be admittedly the butt hole of America. Old oil town that suffered hard after the 80's oil bust. Then wallowed in obscurity during the 90's...Finally, quietly while the rest of the country fell into the numbness that was the Bush admin. of the 00's , OKC picked itself up. Very well I must add. It's now a model community, built on sound business, education, culture and yes, even art. Recession proof not by accident, but by design. The NBA is really just a byproduct of the stable community, not the cause of it.
Jon, we've got a family cabin in MN. Beautiful place on Big Sandy.... great place to go for huntin and feeeshin... that's about it really....locals there make me wonder if time actually keeps pace in MN. (1810 maybe?) Wasn't one of the retards that bombed OKC from MN?
I'm sure there is a CC that offers a writing course to "improve yourself" somewhere in St. Paul Jon. If you can qualify to enroll.
A.
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